Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Why does hydrogen fluoride have a higher boiling point than other hydrogen halides?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
fluorine
Properties of fluorine.
Hydrogen fluoride (HF) has a significantly higher boiling point than other hydrogen halides (such as HCl, HBr, and HI) due to the presence of hydrogen bonding.
Hydrogen bonding occurs when a hydrogen atom is bound to a small, highly electronegative atom, such as fluorine. In the liquid state, these strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds link the molecules together. Because of this, a considerable amount of thermal energy is required to break these bonds to permit vaporization, which results in a much higher boiling point compared to the heavier hydrogen halide analogues that do not exhibit this specific type of extensive intermolecular bonding.1